ISl 
embassy in 1513 ; but I ask how it was pos- 
sible to have Mexican painting's in Europe 
in 1513, since Hernandez de Cordova did not 
discover the coasts of Yucatan till 16 17, and 
Cortez landed at Vera Cruz only in 1519 ? Is 
it probable, that the Spaniards should have found 
Mexican paintings in the island of Cuba, when 
the inhabitants of that island, notwithstanding 
the short distance from False Cape to Cape St. 
Antonio, do not appear to have had any com- 
munication with the Mexicans ? It is true, 
that, in the note added to the collection of 
Vienna, this collection is not called Codex Mexi- 
canus^ but Codex Indice meridionalis : never- 
theless the perfect analogy between this manu- 
script and those at Veletri and Rome leaves no 
doubt with respect to their common origin. King 
Emanuel died in 1521 ; Clement the Seventh 
in 1534: it seems to me incredible, that before 
the first entry of the Spaniards into Tenoch- 
titlan on the 8th of November, 1519, there 
should have been a Mexican manuscript at 
Rome. At whatever period it reached Italy, 
it is certain, that, after having passed from 
hand to hand, it was offered in 1677 to the 
Emperor Leopold by the Duke of Saxe-Eise- 
nach. 
We are altogether ignorant of the fate of 
the collection of Mexican paintings, which ex- 
isted toward the end of the 17th century at 
